The invention relates generally to a talking toy, and more particulary to a talking toy in the form of an animated figure having a plurality of appendages for detachably combining with the toy body and that plays voice messages upon recognizing combinations of particular appendages with particular locations on the toy body.
Various types of toys with detachable appendages have been previously designed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,889 to Ejima discloses a toy in the form of a robotic humanoid that emits sounds and lights in response to the attachment/detachment of arms, legs, and a head to the toy body. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 of Ejima, the toy body includes apertures each having pairs of magnetized contacts. Each of the appendages includes an electrically conductive ferromagnetic hemispherical contact that may be magnetically attached to the toy body via the magnetized contacts to complete a current path across the magnetized contacts. A microprocessor disposed within the toy body detects the presence of an electrical path across the contacts and generates signals in response to a current flow through the magnetized contacts so that the toy body emits entertaining sounds and lights for a user.